Steps 6 - 9

Step 6: Configure the WRE54G

Make sure that the Channel is set to the same channel as the AP or wireless router you want the Expander to connect to. Although Figure 2 shows the SSID set to "linksys" (how it will be set if you connect to any of the supported Linksys wireless products), you can leave it at the default, set it equal to the target AP's SSID, or change it to something else.

Tip: I recommend leaving the WRE54G's SSID set to its default or changing it to something other than your WLAN's SSID. The SSID isn't used by the WDS bridging function, and setting it to something different will allow you to force your wireless client to connect to the Expander instead of staying locked to your main AP, as most wireless clients prefer to do.

The only other setting you need to change is to enter the MAC address of the target AP / wireless router into the Access Point MAC address box. You'll need to get this information from the target AP's admin screens. It's also usually printed on a label somewhere on the outside of the product. Make sure you enter it using colons between each pair of characters, i.e. 00:0e:ef:fd:a2:3c. When you're done, save the settings.

Step 7: Test the connection

Go to your wireless client, rescan for wireless networks and connect the client to your WLAN's main AP / wireless router, i.e. the "target AP". (See how handy not having the same SSID for your Expander and main AP is?) Your client should still be set to the IP address in the 192.168.1.X range.

Open a Command (or DOS) window and ping 192.168.1.240 and if the wireless bridge is up, you'll be rewarded with ping replies.

Step 8: Migrate the WRE54G to your LAN's IP subnet

At this point, the WRE54G is successfully bridged to your LAN's main AP or wireless router. If your LAN already uses the 192.168.1.X subnet, you should be able to force the wireless client to connect back to the main AP, set your wireless client back to being a DHCP client and successfully get an IP address and proper Gateway and DNS information.

If your WLAN doesn't use the 192.168.1.X subnet, leave the wireless client set to the static IP you've used so far, force the wireless client to directly connect back to the WRE54G and change the WRE54G's IP address and Gateway to match your LAN's setup. After you've double-checked the entries, click the Save Settings link. Wait at least 10 seconds to make sure that the WRE54G successfully got the message, then force the wireless client to connect back to the main AP,set your wireless client back to being a DHCP client and successfully get an IP address and proper Gateway and DNS information.

In either case, once you've successfully leased IP address info, check that Internet and network connections work and ping the WRE54G's IP address to make sure that the wireless bridge is up.

Step 9: Configure the WRE54G as desired

Now that the bridge is up and the WRE54G is integrated into your WLAN, you can log back into it and enable WEP or make other setting changes. If you're enabling WEP, make sure you set up the WRE54G first, then make the the corresponding changes on your wireless client.

Tags: How To, Linksys, WDS, WiFi, WRE54G,

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